Deeplinks Blog posts about Free Speech

Books checked out from a library and terms searched on library computers can reveal a teenager’s questions about sexual orientation, a neighbor’s religious leanings, or a student’s political interests. Libraries across the country, particularly public libraries, make it part of their mission to serve the most vulnerable and underserved user groups, including users who are homeless, unemployed, or recent migrants or refugees. And when government agents come looking, these library users need librarians to have their back.

Many have contacted us with concerns about yesterday’s election results. At this critical moment, we want digital civil liberties supporters worldwide to feel confident that EFF remains steadfast in its mission and method: to use law and technology to champion civil liberties and provide a potent check against overreach.

EFF has worked for 26 years to build a free and fair future. When civil liberties come under threat, we challenge the powerful—from those in high office to perpetrators of common malice—to establish limits and protect people. We know that freedom and justice don’t just materialize. They aren’t automatic or made inevitable by technology. If we want our technologies—which today are woven throughout our communities, our laws, our culture, and our very lives—to support freedom and justice, we have to work for it. Hard. We have to fight.

While there are countless examples of DMCA abuse, sometimes a story stands out. Last week, Samsung sent a series of takedown notices aimed at videos showing a GTA V mod in action. The modification replaced an in-game weapon with an exploding Samsung phone. Whether you think these videos are hilarious or in bad taste (or both), they are a parody inspired by real-life stories of Galaxy Note 7s catching fire. Samsung may not enjoy this commentary, but that does not excuse its abuse of the DMCA.

Having for years enforced a constitutionally offensive border search regime at physical borders and U.S. international airports, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recently proposed to expand its violations in troubling new ways by prompting travelers from countries on the State Department’s Visa Waiver Program list to provide their “social media identifier.”